Gary Cassidy
Chapter 3: Improvisation and Characterisation
Commentary
Looking at how Narrative improvisation is used within rehearsal contexts to achieve a range of aims with a focus on the potential the use of improvisation holds for the purposes of characterisation.
Related Items
This video is an introduction to the company of Anthony Neilson’s Royal
Court show Narrative in 2013: Anthony Neilson; Zawe Ashton; Imogen Doel;
Brian Doherty; Christine Entwisle; Barney Power; Olly Rix and Sophie
Ross.
This video provides a window into other aspects of Neilson’s authorial
propensities via a snapshot of rehearsal room discussion concerning what to name the
characters in the show.
This video shows how Neilson authors and develops his script in the moment
during rehearsals. This process occurs as actors Barney Power and Zawe Ashton work
on a scene where Power’s character is humiliated while attending an advert audition
conducted by Ashton’s maliciously bored character.
This video clip shows actor Zawe Ashton employing the Affective Memory
rehearsal technique while running a scene with actor Olly Rix.
This video features Neilson and actors Zawe Ashton and Christine
Entwisle’s work on developing a newly-written scene in which Ashton’s character
attends an unconventional counselling appointment. It contains excerpts of
discussion, as well as a full-length improvisation where Ashton’s head is masked by
a cardboard box.
This video is the first time the company run the improvisation concerning
the arbitrary items found in the rehearsal space.
In this video actors Christine Entwisle and Zawe Ashton discuss the Box
Therapy improvisation.
In this video Anthony Neilson, Christine Entwisle and Zawe Ashton finalise
the performance of the therapy session during the technical rehearsal in the Jerwood
Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court.
Anthony Neilson and Brian Doherty talk about Neilson’s use of
improvisation in his rehearsal process in this video.
In this video the whole company conduct an improvisation run by music and
sound designer Nick Powell. During the improvisation the participants attempt to
create a multi-layered vocal score by splicing together various random sounds
articulated by individual company members.
Anthony Neilson, Brian Doherty and Christine Entwisle discuss features of
Neilson’s methodology as a director.
This video shows the similarities between the beginning and the end of
Narrative.
This video contains rehearsal room footage of the company discussing the
idea of having some kind of audience participation as the ending to
Narrative. Then the video moves to the technical rehearsal in the
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, where Neilson directs a different way
of concluding the show.
In this video Anthony Neilson, Imogen Doel and Sophie Ross discuss the
interaction between the actor’s process and Neilson’s directorial/authorial
approach.
In this video the assistant director of Narrative, Ned Bennett,
and actors Brian Doherty, Zawe Ashton, Sophie Ross, Barney Power and Olly Rix,
discuss the effects of being filmed while rehearsing the show. Then the video moves
into the rehearsal room, where Rix is running a scene from the play.
In this video the Narrative company have come to the end of the
rehearsal period. Here Neilson discusses with the cast how the following week-long
technical rehearsal will be conducted and attempts to allay any concerns they may
have about the forthcoming opening and subsequent run of the show.
This video contains footage of the note session before Press Night where
Neilson introduces an entirely new scene to be performed by actors Imogen Doel and
Zawe Ashton that evening. The video then shows the only rehearsal of the scene
before the performance.
In this video actress Christine Entwisle talks about her experience of
being filmed rehearsing her role in Narrative. The video then shows the
impact Entwisle discusses, during the technical rehearsal in the Jerwood Theatre
Upstairs at the Royal Court.
Anthony Neilson considers how actors can influence the authorship of his
work in this video. Then the video moves to the rehearsal room where the
Narrative company throw various ideas around concerning how one of the
characters being out of sync with reality can be theatrically rendered.
This is a video of the Narrative company’s second discussion and
running of an improvisation using some chance items found in the rehearsal
room.
In this video the company and music and sound designer, Nick Powell,
continue to explore the ways in which the character being out of sync with reality
can be theatrically rendered. The footage then proceeds to show how this idea is
audio-visually represented for the on-stage performance.
In this video Anthony Neilson, assistant director Ned Bennett and the
actors Imogen Doel, Sophie Ross, Barney Power and Christine Entwisle, reflect on the
tangential properties of Neilson’s authorial process.
This video shows the authorial input of actor Olly Rix, as he works on a
speech in the rehearsal room and then during the technical rehearsal at the Jerwood
Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court.
Anthony Neilson and actors Olly Rix, Brian Doherty and Imogen Doel give
their views on the connection between the actor and Neilson’s authorship in this
video.